6 more got through today.
4,911 Caught / 33 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.3% accuracy)
Akismet Spam Detector
I’m back! 2 more slipped through during my July 4th weekend.
4,840 Caught / 27 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.4% accuracy)
Akismet Spam Detector
Another one slipped through today.
4,696 Caught / 25 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.5% accuracy)
I’ll also take the time here to apologize for not posting any new entries recently. My dad’s been over and I’ve been busy doing paper work for my condo purchase. And now I’ll be on a 5 day vacation at Mt. Shasta (near Redding) to meet up with some old buddies back from Berkeley.
Hopefully I’ll have time to post when I come back.
Akismet Spam Detector
Another one slipped through today.
3,847 Caught / 24 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.4% accuracy)
Akismet Spam Detector
Another one just slipped through.
3,762 Caught / 23 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.4% accuracy)
Akismet Spam Detector
Another one passed through today.
3,324 Caught / 22 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.3% accuracy)
Google Browser Sync
So ever since /. and Ars Technica reported about the Google Browser Sync, I’ve been using it for the past week or so and here are my comments and opinions.
I wouldn’t say this is the best firefox extension ever or wouldn’t say this is unique and the first of its kind, but I would say it’s a heck of a lot better than what was out there. I’ve tried many bookmark synching utilities and none of them have every really met my expectations and I just ended up ditching them and after awhile, stopped searching for new ones. If you search extensions for Firefox, you’ll know there’s bee a bunch out like:
- Online Bookmark Manager Synchronizer
- Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer
- Gnafi – Synchronize Your Bookmarks! URL BAR Search! Tags & Keywords! Great For Forums!
- Bookmark Sync and Sort
So lets talk about the good stuff first. It not only lets you sychronize your bookmarks, but also lets you choose if you want to synchronize your passwords, your history, your cookies, and your tabs/windows. Next to each syncable item, you have the option to encrypt it. Honestly, I don’t know who would synch their passwords with Google, even if they do encrypt it. It’s like giving Google all the keys to your online identity (even if they claim to be not ‘evil’). I’m only synching my bookmarks at the moment and have enabled encryption and the sychronization occurs seamlessly.
Installation was pretty easy. Clicked on the extension, and it installed. After restarting Firefox, it prompted me to log into my Google account and then set a PIN for encryption. However, the initial setup may take some time if your two browsers have many discrepancies between them, especially if 2 bookmarks have the same URL, but different names/description. I had a bunch of duplicates initially, but after spending 15 minutes or so cleaning up and synching, my bookmarks were the way I want. They also don’t save the site icon which when synching left me with a row of iconless toolbar with now names.
Okay, now on to the bad stuff. First and formost is the fact my data is stored on Google servers. Even though Google may claim to be ‘not evil’ and lets assume they won’t abuse my data, someone might still be able to hack there servers. Since I’m only synching my bookmarks, I’m not too worried since I don’t have any incriminating bookmarks. You should also make sure you didn’t set a bookmark that included your username/password (i.e. http://username:password@www.site.com). The previous synching tools I’ve used before allowed me to setup a ftp server which it’ll upload and download my bookmarks to and from. This however only occurred when I opened my browser and when I closed my browser and lets just say often times my ordering of my bookmarks got messed up. Though I guess Google wants to collect data, and by allowing us to use private servers, they won’t be able to collect the data they want.
Next thing which is really annoying is if you’re using 2 different machines simulataneously with Firefox on, ONLY one of the browsers can be connected to Google’s server. The other one would prompt a error box saying I’ve been signed on somewhere else and would I like to reconnect. By clicking reconnect, my other session gets signed off. I personally think this defeats the purpose of having the browser sync, though I guess it makes Google’s programmers’ lives easier.
The next few issues revolve around the PIN. One thing right off the bat is that Google allows anyone that has access to your profile to see your PIN, just by opening a browser with your profile, going into the tool’s setting, and clicking on the Show button in the Security PIN area. Also, from the FAQ:
Why do I need to provide a PIN?
The PIN you create during setup is used to encrypt information that’s synced between your computers, which may include sensitive information such as your passwords for websites. We use your PIN to unlock that information. Without your PIN, no one will be able to read the information that’s being transmitted between your computers via Google Browser Sync.
What’s the point of encrypting my information?
By encrypting your information, it will be transmitted to and stored on Google’s servers in a format that is nearly impossible to interpret without the PIN. That means that without the PIN, no one, not even Google, will be able to read your data. Therefore, it’s important to choose a good PIN (at least 8 characters including both numbers and letters) that’s hard to guess and to keep your PIN safe. Note that encrypting all of your browser settings may affect the performance of Google Browser Sync and Firefox.
I hope that just means they use my PIN to decrypt my data locally and they don’t store my PIN on their server.
Remember ALWAYS to format your Hard Drive
Police investigate angry eBayer’s revenge site – The buyer recovered the hard drive from the malfunctioning notebook, finding it full of personal details, allegedly including access to email accounts, 90 voyeuristic leg shots taken on the London Underground and gay porn. He posted the material on a website, naming and shaming Barnet 19-year-old Amir Tofangsazan as the seller. Honestly, this is a scammer and he deserves no pity. Apparently if you look at his feedback, he’s done more than a few scams.
Decathanerd said he felt sorry for the scammer, but I brought up an awesome Batman Begins quote: Justice. Crime cannot be tolerated. Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society’s understanding.
Unfortunately the sequel won’t be out till 2008 because Warner Bros. decided to release Superman Returns in 2006 and Wonder Woman in 2007. As you may have guessed, the sequel to Superman Returns is planned to be released in 2009 and sequel to Wonder Woman is planned to be released in 2010.
Random Crap:
I’ve accumulated quite a lot of random crap over the past week. Might take awhile to disperse it, so be patient.
Today’s Japanese word is: 噂 (uwasa) – rumour; rumor; report; gossip; common talk;
Someone posted a comment on my blog with a link to a hentai version of LeekSpin. I’m not going to post the link here, but you can view the big boobed version by following the link in the comments area. Do be warn that it’s ** NOT WORK SAFE **
Feds seize church’s fake $1M bills – But ministry founder Darrel Rundus said he doesn’t understand how he can be accused of counterfeiting a bill that does not exist. The highest denomination of U.S. currency is the $100,000 bill. According to Wikipedia:
Today, the currency of the United States, the U.S. dollar, is printed in bills in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
At one time, however, it also included five larger denominations. Shown here is a $100,000 Gold certificate from 1934. High-denomination currency was prevalent from the very beginning of U.S. Government issue (1861). $500, $1,000, and $5,000 interest bearing notes were issued in 1861, and $10,000 gold certificates arrived in 1865. There are many different designs and types of high-denomination notes.
Hell shines in its apocalyptic moment in the sun – The road to Hell was crowded with the curious on Tuesday — as well as devils-in-disguise, hearse enthusiasts, Christian protesters and merchants trying to cash in on the apocalypse.
Vietnam officials faulted for not singing karaoke – Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper reported on Wednesday that state oil monopoly Petrovietnam’s financial arm PVFC ordered 21 officials to make “self-criticism” reports for not singing karaoke at a contract-signing ceremony near Hanoi on Saturday. In other words, if you’re ever planning to work in Vietnam, be prepare to Karaoke or face the possibility of being fired.
Moms-to-be delay births on June 6, 2006 – In New York, “people are canceling left and right because of what today represents,” said Liza Washington, an administrative assistant at Children’s Hospital of the New York-Presbyterian Medical Center. More than a dozen deliveries were postponed because of 666, which is said to be the “Number of the Beast” in the Book of Revelation.
Bash Quote (from Tera):
#219349
<myliw0rk> There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra than on Alzheimer’s research.
<myliw0rk> This means that by 2020, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.
iRobot Scooba Exposed: What’s Inside This Robotic Maid (from /.) – Articles like these are always interesting when the disassemble a gadget and tell you exactly what’s inside.
Barbie doll unlikely to grill steak: Canada court – Mattel Inc. relies on Barbie dolls for about a third of its global sales, with the average young Canadian girl receiving two a year. Wow! That means for every Canadian girl that DOESN’T get a barbie doll, another Canadian girl gets 4 barbie dolls per year. That’s one every season!
Isn’t it supposed to be harder than this? – A helicopter landed in the middle of the high security Athens Korydallos prison, picked up two prisoners and flew away in a Hollywood-style escape that has left Greek police stunned. Just amazing!
Lioness in zoo kills man who invoked God – A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal’s enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday. Irony?
It’s “Mandy” vs the hotrods – Sick and tired of souped-up cars with loud engines and pulsing music? Barry Manilow may be the answer.
The Ultimate DDR Deck (from /.) – How to build your own DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) dance deck. Seems way too much work to put it, but for those who like building things, this would be an awesome project.
Awesome Witch Hunter Robin Cosplay (from 4chan)
Girl’s pretty cute too.


What Robin looks like normally from Witch Hunter Robin. She always wears glasses sometimes because apparently she’s near-sighted.
Akismet Spam Detector
Another one passed through just now.
2,308 Caught / 21 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.1% accuracy)
Spam Happy
Someone must’ve been SPAM happy and wanted to test out how good Akismet is. Got 385 new spams today.
UPDATE
Apparently they got lucky. 55 spams on top of the 385 above, 3 got through. The current statistics:
2,193 Caught / 20 Missed / 0 False Positives (99.1% accuracy)
